400,000 SF commuters stranded as transit unions strike

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) — Bay Area Rapid Transit workers walked off the job early Monday morning after last-minute negotiations failed to produce a new contract agreement. The strike ensured a nightmarish commute to start the week, leaving about 400,000 BART riders to find another way to get work.

“A strike is always the last resort and we have done everything in our power to avoid it,” said Josie Mooney, a lead negotiator for one of BART’s two major unions, in an e-mailed statement to CBS San Francisco. “We are disappointed that BART’s failure to bargain honestly and fairly means that hundreds of thousands of Bay Area commuters have to suffer.”